Oliver Gruenler and his wife, Auja, along with their sons, Liam, age 16, Colin, age 13 and Marvin, age 10, from Cologne, Germany chartered the Topshotfishing team to do some deep sea big game sport fishing in Fort Lauderdale, FL. Today winds were out of the south at 5-10 mph, seas running 1-3 ft., temperatures in the high 80’s.

As the Gruenler family boarded the boat, they told me they were from Cologne, Germany. I was in Cologne years ago and mentioned to the family that I visited the famous Dom Cathedral in Cologne; of course, the Gruenler family has visited the Cathedral many times.

Fifteen minutes after leaving the dock, lines were in 120 ft. of water by the sea buoy in Fort Lauderdale, 1.8 miles from shore. We started out trolling the reefs with four surface m there the family took turns reeling in the fish – their total catch was: 6 Bonitos, 4 Kinbaits and two plainers. Our first angler was Marvin and he reeled in an 8 lb. Kingfish. Frogfish and 2 Barracudas.

This was the Gruenler’s first fishing charter experience, and they were all thrilled with the outcome of catching so many fish. All the anglers went into the a/c salon to relax on the ride back to the dock at Bahia Mar, 801 Seabreeze Blvd. Fort Lauderdale 33316. Their next stop was off to Everglades Holiday Park to ride on the airboats and view the gators.